I recently traveled to Augusta, GA. Inside the small but pleasant airport there are icons of the city’s claims to fame.
Although he was actually born in South Carolina, James Brown lived in Augusta at his aunt’s brothel. This statue of him is just down the street from the Confederate War memorial. It is so popular that the city has installed an interactive camera. You text some numbers and the camera will take your photo and send it back to your phone. I had not realized how short he was until I stood next to him.
The airport has this small shrine to JB at the entrance to the airport. And the city named the local arena after him too.
The other claim to fame is golf, an inexplicable Scottish sport. There is a televised tournament here at a private golf course and apparently thousands of people with nothing better to do (they could be watching paint dry, it’s much more exciting) show up to watch the fun in action. The golf course is located behind this thing (perhaps it’s a water tower, perhaps a flying saucer?).
There is a statue of some famous golfer that is one of the first things that one sees after deplaning. This is in case you don’t know that this place is now famous for golf, instead of it’s former claim of being a mercantile capital of the sugar and cotton business.
The tourist board also flogs the area’s ties to lesser celebrities. Early movie comedian Oliver Hardy is from a nearby area, so there is his museum. American President Woodrow Wilson lived near the James Brown Arena (which was not yet built of course, except perhaps in an alternate universe) when he was growing up.
Finally, I include this griffon just because I like it, and it is across the street from JB’s statue. The reflection is me and my favorite brother.